Spain is grieving for the 153 victims of Madrid's plane crash, as experts begin to look into why the jet crashed and burnt shortly after take-off. The country's prime minister has visited some of the 19 survivors, while King Juan Carlos met relatives of the victims at a makeshift mortuary. Three days of mourning have been declared and flags are at half-mast. Of the survivors of the Spanair flight JK 5022 crash on Wednesday, several remain critically ill.
Spain is grieving for the 153 victims of Madrid's plane crash, as experts begin to look into why the jet crashed and burnt shortly after take-off.
The country's prime minister has visited some of the 19 survivors, while King Juan Carlos met relatives of the victims at a makeshift mortuary.
Three days of mourning have been declared and flags are at half-mast.
Of the survivors of the Spanair flight JK 5022 crash on Wednesday, several remain critically ill.
But in stark contrast to the rival theories about who was responsible for the 2004 bombings, this time, a single would-be culprit is emerging - at least in the eyes of the Spanish media. Spanair and its business troubles are being put under the microscope - from the $81bn losses in the first sixth months of 2008, to the axing of routes, and the proposal to cut up to 1,200 jobs. Just hours before the crash, Spanair representatives of the pilots' union, Sepla, had issued a statement, denouncing "organisation chaos" at Spain's second biggest carrier. Threatening strike action, the pilots alleged that company bosses were forcing cockpit and maintenance staff to work abusively long hours, in order to compensate for "endemic problems" of organisation and structure. Those claims are denied by Spanair executives, together with the suggestion that economic woes were a direct cause of Wednesday's crash.
But in stark contrast to the rival theories about who was responsible for the 2004 bombings, this time, a single would-be culprit is emerging - at least in the eyes of the Spanish media.
Spanair and its business troubles are being put under the microscope - from the $81bn losses in the first sixth months of 2008, to the axing of routes, and the proposal to cut up to 1,200 jobs.
Just hours before the crash, Spanair representatives of the pilots' union, Sepla, had issued a statement, denouncing "organisation chaos" at Spain's second biggest carrier.
Threatening strike action, the pilots alleged that company bosses were forcing cockpit and maintenance staff to work abusively long hours, in order to compensate for "endemic problems" of organisation and structure.
Those claims are denied by Spanair executives, together with the suggestion that economic woes were a direct cause of Wednesday's crash.
INTERVIEW: Air Disaster in Madrid - The investigation - JOSÉ MARÍA VÁZQUEZ President of SEPLA [airline pilots' union] and Spanair pilot "To attribute the accident to the firm's situation is barbaric" by LARA OTERO - Madrid - 22/08/2008 José María Vázquez has been at the helm of the pilots' union SEPLA for 9 months and in Spanair for 20. He has seen the company be born and grow. He is critical of the airline's management but defends its actions on maintenance and safety. He was one of the pilots who flew the relatives of the victims from Las Palmas to Madrid on Wednesday night. He can't (and won't) help getting emotional recalling the personal dramas he was told of during that two-hour flight
"To attribute the accident to the firm's situation is barbaric" by LARA OTERO - Madrid - 22/08/2008
José María Vázquez has been at the helm of the pilots' union SEPLA for 9 months and in Spanair for 20. He has seen the company be born and grow. He is critical of the airline's management but defends its actions on maintenance and safety. He was one of the pilots who flew the relatives of the victims from Las Palmas to Madrid on Wednesday night. He can't (and won't) help getting emotional recalling the personal dramas he was told of during that two-hour flight
Question: is it possible that the gauge was detecting overheating not of the incoming air (incorrect) but of the engine itself, that the maintenance staff failed to notice anything wrong with the engine and so (wrongly) declared the gauge faulty and disabled it? A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
The story now is ...
They can't possibly know the triggering event at this stage of the investigation, way too early.
I presume they've collected the 'Black Box' Flight Data Recorder and are doing preliminary analysis of the information. However, that only gives the data the avionic system was passing around and what the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer were seeing/saying.
Important Point: the FDR does not give the actual state and condition of the mechanics of the airplane but only what the avionics thought their condition was. That thermometer was doing what a thermometer does: record temperature. WHAT was causing the temperature rise will not be known until the US NSTB and Spanish authorities reassemble the bits and pieces of the plane and conduct a visual inspection and analysis. A doo run-run-run, a doo run-run
